You can ask customers to pay a deposit as soon as they accept a proposal. To do this, add a payment step to the proposal’s after-accept actions. When the customer accepts, they go straight to checkout.

Proposals use the same checkout as your booking forms, so there’s nothing separate to set up. If your forms already take deposits through your payment gateway, your proposals will too.

Before you start

You need a payment gateway connected, such as Stripe or Square, and your deposit settings in place. If you already take deposits through your booking forms, you’ve done this. If not, connect a gateway first. There are separate articles on taking payments through Stripe and through Square.

Adding the payment step

  1. Open the proposal or template in the builder.

  2. Open the template settings and find the after-accept actions.

  3. Add the payment step, after the contract if you use one.

  4. Save, and publish if the proposal is already live.

Set this on the template if you want every proposal to take a deposit, then change it on individual proposals when you need to.

How much the customer pays

The amount comes from your checkout and deposit settings, the same as a booking made through a form. It’s based on the quote option the customer accepted plus any upsells they added.

If you use payment schedules, the rest of the balance follows the schedule after the deposit, with automatic payment reminders if you’ve turned them on.

What the customer sees

  1. The customer clicks Accept on the proposal.

  2. If you’ve added a contract step, they sign the contract.

  3. They go to checkout and pay.

  4. They land on the next step you’ve set, usually their client portal.

The lead becomes a booking when they accept. The payment then shows against the booking like any other payment.

Common questions

Can I take the full amount instead of a deposit? That depends on your checkout settings, the same as your forms. If your forms take the full amount, so will your proposals.

Can I skip the deposit for some customers? Yes. Take the payment step out of the after-accept actions on that customer’s proposal. You can send the customer an invoice later.

The customer accepted but didn’t pay. If the customer leaves checkout without paying, the proposal is still accepted and the lead is still a booking. Follow up with the customer, or send them a payment link from the booking.

Which payment methods can customers use? Whatever your connected gateway supports, plus any manual methods you’ve switched on, such as bank transfer.